(f-^tX^U  14r*^> 


c)<jL*diLKS 


TREASURE  ROOM 


DUKE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
DURHAM,  N.  C. 


,JUslMJLy<.j^     f3**-A-yjr  -rpL^\_s 


Form  934— 20M— 8-34— C.P.Co. 


&{;e  $oi%rn  Cjmrcjj  JJustifieb  in  its  support  of  fjje 
Soutljin  tjje  present  Mhx: 


A_  LECTURE, 


DELIVERED   BEFORE   THE 


YOUNG  MEN'S  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATION, 


OF  RICHMOND, 


ON  THE  21st  MAY,  1863; 


BY 


HON.  JOHN  RANDOLPH  TUCKER. 


RICHMOND,  VA.. 

U.    a.   CLKMMITT,    PRIKTCR 

1863. 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


Richmond,    fa.,    May   27*  h,    IS  G.I. 

Hon.  Joiin  R.vsDOLPn  Tucker  : 

Dear  Sir: 
The  Directory  of  the  Richmond  Young  Men's  Christian* 
Association*,  have  instructed  the  undersigned,  to  request  of  you,  for 
publication,  a  copy  of  the  "very  able  lecture,"  entitled  "The  Southern 
Church  justified  in  its  support  of  the  South  in  the  present  war,"  deliv- 
ered by  you  on  Thursday  Evening,  the  21st  iust,as  the  Sixth  of  iheir 
Current  Course. 

We  take  pleasure,  in  hereby  conveying  to  you,  the  wishes  of  the 
Directory,  and  will  share  their  gratification  in  receiving  an  affirmative 
answer  to  this  application. 

We  are,  Dear  Sir,  yours  very  truly, 

J.  E.  WATKINS, 
GEO.  W.  JONES, 
Members  Committee  on  Lectures. 


Richmond  ,   June   1  s  t ,    1863. 

Gentlemen  : 

I  have  received  your  note  of  the  27th  ult.,  communicating 
the  wishes  of  your  Directory. 

I  could  wish  the  address  were  more  worthy  of  the  subject,  and  of  tho 
flattering  estimate  you  are  kind  enough  to  place  upon  it.  If  its  publi- 
cation will  justify  us,  in  the  eyes  of  those  who  look  upon  this  struggle 
— but  are  strangers  to  it — or  will  stimulate  the  patriotism  of  our  own 
people,  or  strengthen  the  assurance  of  the  rightfulness  of  our  cause  in  the 
mind  of  any  soldier  of  our  noble  army,  I  shall  feel  my  labor  has  not 
been  in  vain. 

I  submit  the  address  to  the  disposition  you  propose. 

Very  respectfully, 

.    Your  friend, 

J.  R.  TUCKER. 
J.  B.  Watkins,  Esq.,  Geo.  W.  Jones,  Esq.,  Committee. 


?74i 


LECTURE. 


Committee  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
of  Richmond,  was  appointed  some  time  since,  to  pre- 
*C$£p  pare  an  address  to  Christians  throughout  the  world, 
£&  in  respect  to  the  principles,  which  controlled  their  ac- 
tion in  the  bloody  and  wasting  war,  in  which  these  States 
are  engaged.  The  suggestion  has  given  occasion  for  the 
present  address,  in  which  it  is  proposed  to  present  the 
grounds  of  justification  of  the  attitude,  which  the  Southern 
church  holds  to  the  present  war. 

Certain  preliminary  considerations  are  proper  before  pro- 
ceeding to  the  special  discussion  proposed. 

The  divorce  of  Church  and  State  is  accepted  as  an  axiom 
in  this  discussion.  The  union  of  Church  and  State,  we 
think,  in  this  country,  at  least,  is  fraught  with  great  evils  ; 
and,  though  attractive  in  its  outward  form,  to  a  superficial 
observer,  tends,  inevitably  to  injure  the  cause  of  pure  reli- 
gion by  its  corrupting  contact  with  politics,  and  to  do  no 
good  to  political  action,  from  its  merely  formal  connection 
with  religion.  That  union  is  fatal  to  both.  It  engenders 
hypocrisy  in  the  State,  and  formalism  in  the  Church. 

But  while  all  this  is  true,  it  is  equally  so,  that  Church 
and  State  deal  with  the  same  subjects  of  influence :  the  one 
in  matters  spiritual,  the  other  in  matters,  social  and  politi- 
cal. It  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  the  action  of  the  State, 
within  its  sphere,  must,  to  a  large  extent,  effect  the  progress 
and  success  of  the  Church.  Social  and  political  changes, 
may,  therefore,  produce  good  or  evil  results  on  the  cause  of 
religion — and  may  greatly  advance,  or  retard  the  progress 
of  Christianity. 

P42741 


The  Church,  therefore,  can  never  be  indifferent  to  politi- 
cal action  :  and  where  it  is  such  as  to  impair  or  destroy  its 
efficiency  in  the  accomplishment  of  its  great  work,  it  is 
hound  by  the  highest  obligations  of  duty,  to  throw  its  influ- 
ence against  State  policy,  so  disastrous  to  the  kingdom  of 
God. 

Especially  is  this  true,  where  a  policy  is  proposed  which 
upturns  society,  and.  threatens  to  array  in  fatal  opposition, 
the  classes  composing  it — those  very  classes,  which  are 
component  elements  in  the  organization  of  the  Church  :  for 
the  conflict  once  raised  in  society,  will  find  its  way  into  the 
peaceful  fold  of  the  Church,  and  thus  rend  its  unity,  and 
destroy  the  christian  harmony,  so  essential  to  its  well-being 
and  progress. 

But  there  is  a  still  more  important  view  of  the  interest, 
which  the  Church  must  ever  feel  in  political  action. 

The  great  Apostle  has  enjoined  upon  the  Church  to  pray 
"  for  all  that  are  in  authority,  that  we,"  (that  is,  the  Chris- 
tian Church)  "may  lead  a  quiet  and  peaceable  life  in  all 
godliness  and  honesty." 

The  Church  is  deeply  involved  in  having  good  govern- 
ment— where  right  will  be  maintained — where  justice  will 
be  administered — where  Liberty  under  law  will  prevail.  It 
is  false  to  its  duty,  if  it  fails  to  throw  its  lawful  influence 
on  the  side  of  good,  and  against  bad,  government.  .  It  is  in 
as  grievous  error,  where  it  takes  the  part  of  despotism 
against  liberty — as  where  it  sustains  licentiousness  against 
rightful  authority.  The  Church  cannot  ignore  the  civil 
rights  of  its  members,  or  be  indifferent  to  the  oppression  to 
which  they  may  be  subjected  by  unconstitutional  power. 
Religion  cannot  prosper — men  cannot  be  brought  under  its 
benign  influence,  when  despotism  is  destroying  the  liberty 
and  trampling  on  the  rights  of  the  people  ;  for  men  in  such 
circumstances  will  be  diverted  from  their  religious  to  their 
civil  interests,  and  will  postpone  spiritual  concerns,  for  the 
attainment  of  present  temporal  benefits. 

God  has  ordained  the  State  Power,  as  the  shield  of  His 


Church  :  and  it  is  the  right  and  the  duty  of  the  Church, 
entrusted  with  the  interests  of  His  religion,  to  sustaiu  the 
State  Power,  when  it  is  a  shield  against  wrong — and  to 
oppose  it  when  it  is  a  sword  wielded  for  outrage  and 
oppression. 

But  there  is  a  still  deeper  view  proper  to  be  presented. 

Civil  and  religious  liberty  are  intimately  related.  Reli- 
gious liberty  is  essential  to  the  progress  of  Christianity. 
Freedom  to  think  on  religion,  is  vital  to  its  existence.  Per- 
sonal responsibility  requires  freedom  of  mind  to  think  and 
act  under  religious  conviction;  Interference  and  intrusion 
here  is,  therefore,  fatal  to  true  religion.  The  State  that 
dares  to  mediate  between  the  soul  aud  its  God,  is  a  traitor 
to  God — and  the  church  is  bound  to  aid  in  its  overthrow. 
"  There  is  one  God,  and  One  Mediator  between  God  and 
men — the  man  Christ  Jesus."  This  is  the  Comtitution  of  the 
Church.  The  Church  cannot,  dare  not,  permit  its  subver- 
sion. The  State,  which  substitutes  itself  for  the  "  One 
Mediator"  betweeu  the  Church  and  its  Maker,  commits  sac- 
rilege ;  puts  its  unhallowed  hand  upon  the  Ark  of  God, 
and  must  be  smitten  down  !     There  is  no  alternative. 

But  the  history  of  the  world  has  shown  a  wonderful  grav- 
itation between  the  civil  and  religious  power.  Civil  power, 
(especially  if  despotic,)  seeks  the  aid  of  religion  to  uphold 
its  influence  with  its  subjects.  Thus,  civil  liberty  has  been 
achieved,  where  religious  liberty,  to  the  same  degree,  has 
not  been  obtained — but  I  think  history  furnishes  no  instance? 
where  religious  liberty  has  survived  the  destruction  of  civil 
liberty  !  A  most  mournful  evidence  of  the  truth  of  this, 
is  at  hand — and  will  be  hereafter  adverted  to — where  a  des- 
potism which  destroys  civil  liberty  by  a  revival  of  the  Star 
Chamber,  stifles  prayer  and  religious  utterance  by  the  bayo- 
nets of  its  soldiery  ! 

It  is  thus  evident,  that  the  Church  in  its  freedom  of  reli- 
gious thought — in  its  access  to  its  God,  through  the  Divine 
Mediator — is  imperilled  by  the  destruction  of  civil  liberty— 
for,  if  religious  cannot  sunrive  civil  liberty,  it  follows  that 


the  overthrow  of  the  one  is  involved  in  that  of  the  other. 

When  power,  therefore,  seeks,  without  lawful  authority  to 
destroy  civil  liberty,  the  Church,  charged  with  the  protec- 
tion of  its  religious  freedom,  is  bound  to  take  its  part  with 
liberty  against  usurped  power — and  to  struggle,  under  God, 
for  civil  rights,  as  the  defensive  outworks,  which,  if  carried, 
must  expose  religious  liberty  to  the  assault  of  despotism. 

These  general  views  will  be  sufficient  to  show  how  far  the 
Church  is  involved  in  the  social  and  political  questions 
which  may  convulse  the  world — and  that  occasions  may  arise, 
when  duty  may  call  it  to  the  exertion  of  its  energy,  for  the 
protection  of  civil  institutions,  menaced  by  usurpation. 

I  come  now  to  the  special  consideration  of  the  proper  re- 
lation of  the  Church  in  the  South  to  the  present  war :  a 
war  of  defence — not  of  aggression. 

War  is  not  to  be  sought  for  aggression  upon  the  rights  of 
others — but  it  is  not  to  be  tamely  avoided,  when  outrage 
and  wrong  threaten  the  heritage  of  liberty  and  right,  which 
a  kind  God  has  granted  to  a  people.  War  in  defence  of 
such  an  heritage,  becomes  stern  and  religious  duty.  It  is 
the  defensive  holding  of  a  talent,  lent  to  promote  the  Divine 
glory — which  cannot  be  surrendered  without  breach  of  faith 
and  loss  of  character. 

In  such  a  war,  the  Confederate  States  are  engaged.  We 
vindicate  its  rightfulness.  We  neither  sought,  nor  pro- 
voked it.  We  stood  upon  our  right  in  the  peace  of  God  ;  and 
met  war,  when  pressed  against  us,  upon  our  very  hearth- 
stones, by  the  violator  of  that  right.  We  had  no  alterna- 
tive, but  to  surrender  our  heritage  to  the  wrong-doer,  or  to 
defend  it  to  the  death. ' 

In  the  fear  of  God,  we  decided  to  protect  our  birth  right, 
assailed  by  war.  For  two  years  we  have  poured  out  an  ob- 
lation of  blood  for  the  deliverance  of  our  native  land  :  and 
we  will  struggle,  even  to  the  end,  for  our  national  indepen- 
dence ;  and  never — never — survive  its  loss  ! 

In  all  this,  we  feel  we  are  right  in  the  sight  of  a  just  God. 
The  facts  which  influence,  and  the  principles  which  guide 


our  decision,  have  been  misrepresented  or  misunderstood. 
To  have  a  conscience  void  of  offence  towards  God  and  men 
is  the  highest  aiid  best  support  of  a  Christian  people.  It  is 
an  inferior,  but  a  desirable  blessing,  that  the  Christian 
world  should  respect  our  conscience,  and  acknowledge  the 
rectitude  of  our  decision— that  those,  united  with  us,  as 
members  of  the  Great  Head  of  the  Church,  should  recog- 
nize the  purity  of  our  motives,  and  the  justice  of  our  action 
As  a  christian  people,  we  appeal  to  them — nor  shall  our 
appeal  be  in  vain  ! 

The  occasion  (hxxtnot  the  cause)  of  this  war,  was  secession. 
The  cause  of  secession,  the  cause  of  the  w-ar,  was  outrage 
perpetrated,  and  threatened,  upon  the  constitutional  rights 
of  these  States,  and  a  violation  of  the  charter,  which  bound 
all  the  States  together  in  the  late  Federal  Union. 

In  the  providence  of  God,  this  union  of  thirty-three  com- 
monwealths, had  grown  up  under,  and  upon  the  terms  of, 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Up  to  the  moment 
of  its  adoption,  the  separate  sovereignty  and  independence 
of  each  of  the  original  States  was  expressly  retained  and 
reserved  by  the  old  Articles  of  Confederation.  In  forming 
the  Federal  union,  this  State  and  others,  expressly  declared 
in  their  several  acts  of  ratification  of  the  Constitution,  that 
the  powers  thereby  granted  "  may  be  resumed  by  them, 
whensoever  the  same  shall  be  perverted  to  their  injury  and 
oppression  ;"  "  that  every  power  not  granted  thereby,  re- 
mains with  them  and  at  their  will  ;"  and,  by  an  express 
article  of  compact,  it  was  declared,  that  all  powers  not  del- 
egated, were  reserved  to  the  States  respectively,  or  to  tho 
people. 

These  constituted  the  charter  under  which  the  Federal 
Government  was  established.  The  union  was  formed  upon 
the  basis  of  the  Constitution,  as  a  compact  between  sove- 
reign States.  The  reserved  rights  of  the  States  were  as 
essential  to  be  maintained  and  defended,  as  the  delegated 
powers  vested  in  the  union.  The  tico  together  constituted 
"the  Powers  that  be,"  which  were  ordained  of  God.  We 
2 


10 

were  as  religiously  bound  to  defend  the  one,  as  to  obey  the 
other.  The  preservation  in  proper  equilibrium  of  the  grant- 
ed powers  and  the  reserved  rights,  was  the  law  of  life  to  the 
union.  The  test  question  of  our  national  being  always  was, 
whether  the  powers  exercised  had  been  really  delegated.  If 
exercised,  when  not  granted,  it  was  pure  usurpation  upon 
the  reserved  rights  of  the  States — a  disturbance  of  the 
equilibrium;  an  overthrow  of  the  system.  This,  we  were 
bound  to  oppose  and  resist,  where  the  usurpation  was  fatal, 
by  all  the  means  in  our  power.  The  right  of  judgment  and 
final  decision  as  to  such  usurpation,  was  not  in  the  Govern- 
ment— but,  by  reservation,  remained  with  the  States  ;  for 
it  is  obvious,  that  if  the  right,  finally  to  decide  such  an 
issue,  resided  in  the  Government  exercising  the  disputed 
power,  its  delegated  authority  would  become  unlimited,  and 
despotic,  which  was  never  intended  ;  and  would  have  made 
the  reservation  of  all  ungranted  power,  an  empty  form,  and 
of  no  effect. 

These  abstract  questions,  so  litfle  understood  by  foreign- 
ers, became  intensely  practical,  in  our  early  history,  and  so 
continued,  by  reason  of  the  difference  in  the  structure  of 
society,  North  and  South. 

By  the  hand  of  God,  four  millions  of  Africans  had  come 
to  form  the  substratum  of  Southern  society ;  the  upper  stra- 
tum being  composed  of  the  Caucasian  race,  to  the  number  of 
eight  millions. 

These  Africans  constituted  the  labor  of  the  South — and 
being  adapted  to  rural  industry,  made  the  South  chiefly  a 
planting  section.  The  North  was  chiefly  commercial  and 
manufacturing.  The  two  sections  were*  diverse,  and  even 
antagonistic,  industrially. 

The  presence  of  the  African  race,  incapable  of  amalga- 
mation with  the  white  race,  by  natural  law,  fixed  and 
unalterable  :  incapable  of  political  or  civil  equality  with  the 
white  race,  by  original  inferiority,  and  the  debasement  of 
centuries;  incapable  of  freedom,  except  to  be  licentious  and 
brutal  and  savage,  and  only  fit  to  be  enslaved,  if  order  and 


11 

security  were  to  be  conserved;  their  deportation  impracti- 
cable, and  cruel  to  the  African  himself;  the  presence  of  this 
race,  with  these  incapacities,  raised  questions  of  vital  impor- 
tance to  the  good  order,  to  the  moral  character,  and  to  the 
social  security  of  the  Southern  States. 

But  with  all  these  incapacities,  there  was  one  great  Provi- 
dential compensation.  The  presence  of  an  inferior  race  with 
such  a  status  fixed  upon  it,  by  necessary  law,  solved  some 
political  questions  which  have  convulsed  so-called  free  soci- 
eties. It  made  the  political  institutions  of  the  South  more 
stable  ;  its  action  less  liable  to  the  turbulence  of  free  De- 
mocracies ;  and  elevated  the  tone  of  political  principle 
beyond  the  too  ready  influence  of  designing  demagogues.  It 
banished  the  "Isms"  and  political  empiricism  of  the  free 
States  from  our  borders  ;  and  radicalism  was,  very  slowly, 
introduced,  and  only  from  imitation,  into  the  creed  of  the 
Statesmen  of  the  South. 

It  did  more.  It  secured  the  South  from  the  curse  of  all 
countries,  where  this  racl|  in  slavery,  does  not  constitute  the 
laboring  class.  It  saved  us  from  the  grinding  conflict  be- 
tween capital  and  labor.  Elsewhere  these  classes  are  in 
antagonism — here,  they  are,  happily,  at  one! 

It  is  obvious,  without  further  suggestion,  that  the  pre- 
sence of  this  race  in  the  South,  presented  subjects  of  momen- 
tous interest  to  us — questions  of  industry — of  social  order — 
of  political  stability — of  moral  and  religious  character. 

The  relation  of  Master  and  Slave  race,  where  kindness  to 
the  slave  is  the  rule,  and  cruelty  the  exception  ;  under  which 
the  master  has  been  elevated,  by  discipline,  for  the  high 
duty  of  guardianship  to  an  inferior  race  in  its  state  of  pu- 
pilage;  under  which,,  the  African  has  been  civilized  and 
christianized  to  a  greater  extent,  than  under  any  other  edu- 
cational process  to  which  he  has  ever  been,  or  can  be,  sub- 
jected— this  was  the  relation,  we,  of  this  generation,  found 
in  existence,  which  we  could  not  change  with  safety— and 
proposed  to  control  under  the  law  of  Him,  whose  Provi- 
dence ordained  it  for  us,  and  who  never  condemned  it,  but 


12 

inscribed  regulations  for  it,  as  he  did  for  all  other  lawful 
relations  in  life  ! 

This  relation  was  our  social  necessity.  Its  disturbance 
would  be  a  social  disaster— might  be  our  social  ruin.  We 
could  not  surrender  its  control  to  any  other  than  ourselves  — 
especially  to  those  who  could  not,  or  would  not  understand 
it-— and,  more  especially,  to  those  who  were  not  only  igno- 
rant of  the  nature  of  the  relation,,  but  who  religiously  and 
fanatically  detested  it,  and  politically  and  socially  antago- 
nized us,  on  account  of  it.  A  government  ignorant  of  the 
relations  it  assumes  to  control,  is  a  mighty  evil — but  one, 
as  hostile  as  it  is  ignorant,  is  absolutely  fatal. 

When,  therefore,  the  North  became,  in  all  departments 
of  the  Federal  Government,  the  controlling  power,  it  was 
natural,  that  the  South,  in  its  hopeless  minority,  should 
jealously  watch  any  attempt  of  the  dominant  section,  to  dis- 
turb this  keystone  in  the  arch  of  our  social  structure.  Let 
this  Sampson  majority  once  lay  hold  upon  these  Ebon  pillars 
of  Southern  society,  and  its  ruinfcrould  be  inevitable.  The 
South  saw  this  for  fifty  years,  and  strove  honestly  to  prevent 
it.  It  felt,  when  Federal  usurpation,  grievous  as  it  had  been, 
but  not  yet  intolerable,  seized  upon  this  question,  the  Union 
must  be  dissolved,  or  the  South  must  perish  ! 

But  this  question  of  slavery  presented  a  serious  aspect 
also,  in  matters  of  religion. 

For  more  than  half  a  century,  the  Northern  mind  had 
been  deeply  imbued  with  a  hostile  sentiment  towards  slavery. 
Fanaticism  had  seized  the  pulpit,  the  press,  the  hustings, 
the  school.  Professing  Christian  men  saw  slaveholding  to 
be  the  most  heinous  sin.  Preachers  ceased  to  denounce  the 
sin  of  unbelief  in  /Christ,  and  preached  perdition  as  the 
slaveholder's  doom.  Churches  were  disordered  by  the  schis- 
matic dogma,  that  slavery,  -per  se,  was  sin.  To  hold  a  slave, 
was  to  hold  damning  heresy. 

In  vain  did  the  Christian  slaveholder  quote  the  Old  and 
New  Scriptures — the  language  of  Peter,  of  Paul,  and  of 
Christ — in  vain,  did  he  point  to  the  slaveholding  centurion, 


13 

as  the  Saviour's  exemplar  of  a  faith  unattaincd  by  his 
chosen  people — in  vain,  did  lie  claim  that  the  apostolic 
injunction  of  justice  from  the  master  to  his  slave,  and  of 
obedience  from  the  slave  to  his  master,  was  inconsistent  with 
the  doctrine  of  the  inherent  sinfulness  of  the  relation 
between  them.  The  answer  of  Abolition  was  simple  :  "  If 
the  Bible  sanctions  slavery,  it  is  not  from  God  !  If  Christ 
tolerated  slavery,  he  is  not  a  divine  teacher  !"  Thus,  anti- 
slavery  became  anti-Christ !  and  Abolition  became  Infidel- 
ity and  Atheism  ! 

The  Southern  christian  was  denounced  in  the  convention, 
the  conference  and  the  assembly  of  his  church.  He  was 
virtually  excommunicated — or  so  stigmatized,  that  he  felt 
he  was  useless  in  union  with  those,  who  so  abhorred  him. 
Within  the  fold  of  the  Southern  Church,  were  "Believing 
masters"  and  "believing  slaves,"  who  sat  as  brethren  at 
the  same  communion,  and  worshipped  the  same  Master  in 
Heaven.  The  teachings  of  the  Northern  Church  tended  to 
rend  this  Christian  unity  ;  to  make  the  master  severe  from 
suspicions  of  the  fidelity  of  his  slave,  and  the  slave  discon- 
tented and  rebellious,  from  the  idea  of  the  outrage  upon  his 
rights  by  his  master,  which  Abolition  so  loudly  proclaimed. 
The  Southern  Church  was  reviled  for  not  preaching  Aboli- 
tion— and  thus  its  progress  was  retarded,  its  unity  was  rent, 
its  peace  was  destroyed. 

The  christian  slaveholder  found  his  duty  to  his  slave 
enjoined  in  the  Bible;  taught  him  the  way  of  eternal  life  ; 
made  him  a  christian  man  ;  loved  him,  tended  him  in  sick- 
ness, and  promoted  his  well  being  and  his  happiness.  The 
church,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  denounced  him,  and 
pilloried  him  before  the  world  as  the  greatest  of  sinners, 
as  the  enemy  of  the  cross  of  Christ.  His  conscience  was 
condemned,  and  not  respected.  His  usefulness  in  the  church 
was  gone.  Bound  to  seek  peace  and  to  pursue  it,  he  found 
his  only  course  as  a  Christian,  was  in  separation — in 
Secession. 


14 

Several  denominations,  containing  large  numbers  of  mas- 
ters and  slaves  ;  more  christian  slaves  in  communion  with 
their  christian  masters,  than  there  were  of  the  African  race, 
in  all  the  world  besides,  many  fold — divided  on  this  question. 
Thousands  of  Southern  christians  separated  from  Northern 
churches,  as  Abraham  from  Lot,  and  founded  new  churches, 
which  have  prospered,  in  the  unity  of  the  Spirit,  in  the  bond 
of  peace,  and  in  righteousness  of  life. 

Let  Christendom,  therefore,  remember  what  it  either  does 
not  know,  or  is  prone  to  forget,  that  Abolition  rent  in  twain 
the  church,  before  it  divided  the  States — and  that  Southern 
christians  were  constrained  for  the  sake  of  peace  and  safety, 
to  secede  from  Northern  christians,  years  before  Secession 
dissolved  the  union  of  the  old  United  States. 

Other  churches  avoided  like  schism  by  simply-ignoring 
the  question.  But  the  sentiment  of  antagonism,  though 
smothered  and  concealed,  was  as  real,  and  not  less  dan- 
gerous to  the  peace  of  the  Church  and  the  progress  of 
religion. 

We  assert,  therefore,  that  the  antagonism  between  the 
North  and  South,  was  founded,  in  a  large  degree,  upon  their 
■diverse  convictions  on  a  question  of  conscience — upon  a 
religious  issue. 

This  being  so,  it  is  obvious,  that  the  religious  conviction 
of  the  church  member,  would  largely  control  his  action  as  a 
citizen.  The  Southern  conscience,  which  had  been  goaded 
to  rend  a  church  upon  the  relations  of  the  domicil ;  which 
stood  upon  its  humble  threshold,  under  the  sanction  of  the 
Divine  Master,  to  protest  prayerfully,  but  bravelyj  for  the 
integrity  of  the  social  tie  between  master  and  slave,  against 
a  reckless  fanaticism,  sowing  the  seeds  of  hate  amid  the 
scenes  of  a  peaceful  home;  that  Southern  conscience,  when 
State  power  assailed  it  by  law,  violating  civil  right,  and 
inciting  to  insurrection,  rapine  and  murder,  was  ready  to- 
rise,  in  the  deep  sense  of  religious  duty,  to  break  the  base 
bonds  of  a  prostituted  union,  and  to  hurl  back  the  invader  of 
its  peace,  with  the  stern  defiance  of  war  ! 


15 

The  views  thus  presented,  suffice  to  show,  that  the  causes 
of  variance  between  the  North  and  South,  tending  to  Seces- 
sion-, were  both  secular  and  religious. 

The  danger  k>  property  in  slaves,  andto  all  property,  val- 
uable because  of  slavery  ;  the  peril  to  the  white  race,  from 
the  insubordination  of  the  African,  under  the  impulse  of 
Abolition  agitation  and  law  ;  the  overthrow  of  Southern 
society  and  the  destruction  of  Southern  civilization,  by  the 
action  of  ignorant  and  fanatical  enemies  ;  the  submergence 
of  all  the  hopes  for  progress  of  eight  millions  of  civilized 
men,  by  the  tide  of  empirical  legislation  upon  our  social  and 
political  institutions  ;  the  subjection  of  all  the  interests  of 
the  South  to  the  absolute  control  of  an  alien  and  hating  ma- 
jority ;  these  made  up  the  secular  element,  which  drove  the 
Southern  people  to  disunion,  as  the  only  hope  of  safety, 
for  their  property,  their  homes,  their  liberties,  their  civil- 
ization. 

The  religious  element  arose  from  other  views. 

When  the  white  race,  possessed  of  the  refinement  and 
christian  civilization  of  the  best  nations,  looked  upon  the 
four  millions  of  semi-barbarians,  entrusted  to  their  keeping 
by  the  hand  of  Providence,  they  felt  a  deep  and  growing 
responsibility  for  their  improvement  in  character  for  time 
and  for  eternity.  The  immortal  interests  of  such  a  mass  of 
savage  life,  pressed  hard  upon  the  conscience  of  Southern 
masters.  Nor  had  they  wholly  failed  to  meet  it.  Out  of 
this  large  number  of  the  descendants  of  heathen,  in  less 
than  two  centuries,  half  a  million  are  professing  members  of 
evangelical  churches.  This  fact  is  worth  a  thousand  theories 
as  to  the  savage  nature  of  slavery.  The  home  of  the  slave 
is  the  only  spot,  whence,  as  yet,  Ethiopia  has  stretched  out 
its  hands  unto  God.  Missionary  effort  elsewhere  fails  to- 
point  to  such  a  triumph  of  Christianity  among  the  sons  of 
Africa,  as  the  Southern  Church  can  justly  claim  in  behalf  of 
Christian  slaveholders  ! 

Emancipation,    wherever    tried,  has    proved  fruitless  of 
christianizing  influence  upon  this  race.     In  the  West  Indies, 


16 

at  the  North,  in  the  South,  the  proportion  of  Christians 
among  the  freed  Africans,  is  far  less  than  among  the  slaves. 
The  reason  is  obvious.  Freedom  to  a  savage  or  semi-civilized 
race,  is  only  freedom  to  be  idle  and  depraved.  Such  races 
need  guardianship.  They  are  in  the  infancy  of  their  devel- 
opment— and  must  be  kept  in  a  state  of  pupillage  to  a  better 
race.  This  is  the  philosophy  of  the  relation  of  master  and 
slave,  based  on  experience  and  facts.  All  other  philosophy 
based  on  theory,  in  ignorance  of  the  facts,  is  vain  and  friv- 
olous, and  in  practice,  must  be  vicious.. 

Northern  churches  insisted  upon  emancipation,  as  a  pres- 
ent imperative  duty  of  the  slaveholder.  They  disturbed  the 
relation,  and  thus  prevented  the  best  practicable  discipline 
and  education  of  the  slave.  They  interfered  with  the  con- 
science of  the  master  in  meeting  the  obligations  of  duty 
imposed  upon  him.  They  agitated  to  make  the  races  hate, 
instead  of  love  and  trust  each  other.  They  sowed  seeds  of 
discord  in  the  Church  and  made  religious  instruction  difficult 
and  even  dangerous.  If  the  master  taught -his  slave  to  read 
the  Bible,  the  Abolition  emissary  used  this  attainment,  as 
a  means  of  instilling  hatred  and  revenge  against  his  master, 
and  placed  an  appeal  in  his  hands,  for  arson,  murder  and 
rebellion. 

The  Church  was  bound,  as  a  Christian  duty,  to  repel  this 
interference — to  protect  its  fold  from  the  incursions  of  the  . 
wolf — and  to  preserve  the  threatened  unity  of  its  commu- 
nion. Keligion  in  the  South,  for  the  white  and  black,  must 
inevitably  perish,  if  the  work  of  Abolition  was  left  unob- 
structed. The  Church,  as  the  guardian  of  religion,  was, 
therefore,  constrained  to  oppose  Abolition,  by  every  lawful 
meaus. 

Such  were  the  secular  and  religious  elements  in  the  South, 
which  led  to  a  watchfulness  of  the  movements  of  Abolition 
in  the  Northern  States.  In  its  success,  the  South  could  see 
no  result,  but  ruin  to  its  industry,  to  its  social  and  political 
relations — and  to  the  sacred  cause  of  religion.  Home  would 
be  blotted  from  the  South ;  and  our  land  would  become  one 


17 

vast  battlefield,  where  the  torch  of  the  incendiary  would 
blaze  at  every  hearthstone,  and  bloodshed  and  crime,  would 
reign  in  the  sunny  domain,  where  pleasant  associations,  aud 
the  dignity  of  virtue,  and  every  Christian  grace  had  made 
their  abode  for  a  century. 

If  men  and  women  were  not  prepared,  at  the  risk  of  pro- 
perty and  life,  to  defend  home,  civilization  and  religion,  in 
the  fear  of  God,  and  without  the  fear  of  man,  then  the 
South  would  have  proved  unworthy  of  a  place  among  na- 
tions, and  derelict  to  the  mighty  trust,  which  God  had  con- 
fided to  their  keeping. 

Look  now  at  history  !  Forty  years  ago,  the  North  vio- 
lated the  Constitution,  as  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  have  recently  decided,  by  excluding  the  South,  with, 
its  social  institutions,  from  lands  purchased  with  the  com- 
mon treasure  of  the  country.  This  was  a  step  to  increase 
the  power  of  the  North  for  political  action.  It  disturbed 
the  balance  of  power.  The  South  complained,  but  ac- 
quiesced for  Peace  and  the  Union. 

Fifteen  years  later,  the  North  flooded  Congress  with  Pe- 
titions for  interference  with  slavery  in  the  South.  It  was 
then  almost  universally  conceded,  that  the  Constitution  did 
not  allow  such  interference.  The  South  said — "If  you 
have  no  power  to  act,  why  disturb  our  peace  by  these  con- 
stant clamours  for  action  ?  Why  insult  us  in  our  common 
counsels  by  denouncing  the  domestic  relations  of  our  homes  ? 
If  we  are  eutitled  to  have  slavery,  surely  we  are  entitled  to 
hold  it  in  peace." 

These  appeals  for  action,  at  last  generated  action.  Nego- 
tiation gave  us  Oregon.  By  express  law,  the  South  was 
excluded  from  it  forever.  The  country  became  engaged  in 
war  with  Mexico.  Peace  brought  accessions  of  new  territo- 
ry. The  arms  of  North  and  South  had  united  to  win  a  rich 
domain — and  the  money  of  both  contributed  to  acquire  it 
by  conquest  and  purchase. 

The  North  with  almost  entire  unanimity  demanded  the 

whole  domain  for  their  own  colonization  and  settlement, 
3 


18 

and  the  entire  exclusion  of  the  South.  By  direct  and  indi- 
rect means,  it  succeeded — and  the  slaveholder  could  not  take 
his  slave  to  any  part  of  that  vast  domain,  for  acquiring 
which,  he  had  poured  out  his  blood  and  treasure. 

This  was  a  deep  wrong!  It  was  a  gross  insult!  It 
branded  such  infamy  upon  the  South,  as  proclaimed  it  unfit 
for  association  with  the  people  of  the  North.  The  South 
was  made  use  of  to  acquire,  what  it  was  thus  declared  unwor- 
thy to  enjoy.  This  action  changed  the  political  balance  in 
every  department  of  the  Government.  The  united  North, 
from  that  moment,  could  pass  any  law,  and  could  elect  a 
President  against  the  will  of  a  united  South.  Thenceforth 
the  South  was  at  the  mercy  of  the  North,  and  held  its  dear- 
est rights,  at  the  will  of  the  dominant  section. 

The  South  still  clung  to  the  hope  that  the  North  would 
do  it  justice.  It  tried  by  the  strategy  of  party  combinations, 
to  divide  the  dominant  section,  and  thus  defeat  action  fatal 
to  its  rights  and  liberties. 

But  the  North,  from  the  moment  the  balance  of  power 
was  disturbed,  began  to  consolidate  parties  in  that  section, 
and  abolitionize  the  whole.  That  once  accomplished,  the 
union  of  the  will  and  the  'power  to  do,  made  its  warfare  upon 
Southern  interests  effectual,  and  the  consummation  of  its 
ultimate  purpose,  certain.  Time  would  work  out  the  result 
— and  the  ruin  of  the  South  would  be  only  a  question  of 
time. 

The  North  knew  this.  The  South  saw  it.  Still  the  South 
struggled  to  awaken  or  keep  alive  in  some  of  the  Northern 
people,  a  sense  of  justice  to  the  rights  which  the  Constitu- 
tion designed  to  protect.  The  States  labored  for  this  end 
and  the  Church  prayed  for  it. 

But  the  North  was  conscious  of  its  new-born  power,  and 
was  proud  of  the  mastery  it  had  at  last  achieved.  Its 
churches  pointed  to  the  sin  upon  the  Southern  soul — and 
its  demagogues  to  the  stain  of  slavery  on  the  flag  of  the 
Union.  Agitation  deep  and  strong  took  hold  of  the  masses 
— books  and  sermons  were  written — speeches   and  lectures 


19 

uttered,  all  with  one  aim— to  show  that  the  sin  of  slavery 
must  be  extirpated  by  the  Church,  and  that  the  black  blot 
on  the  American  name,  imprinted  by  this  Southern  crime, 
must  be  washed  from  the  flag  of  a  free  people  forever. 

In  1856,  this  Abolition  party,  (numbering  60,000  in 
1844,)  had  grown  to  1.300,000.  It  only  sustained  defeat  by 
the  accidents  of  a  canvass.  But  it  felt  its  power,  and  the 
South  read  its  doom. 

This  success  was  a  truce,  not  a  victory.  Both  sections 
felt  it,  and  subsequent  events  proved  it.  Abolition  approach- 
ed its  flood  tide,  and  Northern  friends  of  the  South  began 
to  give  way. 

On  the  memorable  night  of  October  17th,  1859,  the  old- 
est commonwealth  in  the  Union,  first  in  settlement,  first  in 
organization— Virginia,  which  had  granted  a  domain  to  the 
Union,  now  forming  five  great  States  of  the  North-west; 
Virginia,  which,'  in  council  had  done  more  for  the  formation 
and  progress  of  the  Union,  than  any  other  State  ;  Virginia, 
which  had  given  her  Washington  to  the  military  and  civil 
administration  of  the  new-born    Republic;    this  "Ancient 

,  Dominion,"  was  the  scene  and  the  victim  of  an  Abolition 
raid,  designed  to  raise  her  slaves  to  insurrection,  and  to  de- 
vote her  homes  to  flame  and  desolation  and  outrage  !  The 
project  failed  ;  the  invasion  was  suppressed  ;  the  leaders 
were  executed  ! 

We  now  sadly  smile  to  think,  how  far  less  criminal  was 
John  Brown,  than  those  Northern  professing  friends, 
who,  three  years  ago,  hypocritically  denounced  him,  and 
now,  equal  him  in  brutality    of  purpose  and  surpass  him  in 

its  successful  execution.     His  raid  was,  but  a  faint  type  of 
their  cruel  ivar. 

Throughout  the  North,  bells  tolled,  eulogies  were  pro- 
nounced, the  drapery  of  mourning  was  paraded,  in  honor  of 
these  martyrs  in  the  sacred  cause  of  Abolition.  Instead  of 
the  dreadful  event  producing  a  reaction  against  the  senti- 
ment, which  had  originated  it,  it  strengthened  and  ad- 
vanced.    The  friends  of  Abolition   organized  anew  for  the 


20 

Presidential  election.  All  available  opposition  to  it  was  over* 
whelmed;  and  the  tornado  of  Anti-slavery  swept  resistless- 
ly  over  the  North,  and  bore  to  the  Executive  chair  its  idol, 
(and  such  an  idol !)  and  to  the  halls  of  Congress  a  delega- 
tion, intent  upon  adverse  action  to  the  institutions  of  the 
South. 

The  North  was  united  upon  its  idolatrous  worship  of  Anti- 
slavery  ;  and  the  South  was  as  united  against  it.  The  fatal 
hour  had  come,  when  in  solid  phalanx,  the  North  took  hold 
upon  all  the  power  of  the  Government,  against  the  impo- 
tent voice  of  a  protesting  South.  Both  sections  were  united 
— but  in  stern  opposition,  the  one  to  the  other.  They  be- 
came in  fact,  two  nations  in  sentiment,  linked  together  by  a 
feeble  political  bond.  The  Union  had  ceased  in  truth  ;  it 
existed  only  in  form.  As  well  attempt  to  hold  France  and 
England  under  the  same  Government,  as  to  hope  the  North 
and  the  South  could  remain  longer  in  Union,  when  the  one 
purposed  a  destructive  policy,  which  the  other  was  yet  more 
strongly  bound  to  resist  with  all  its  energy. 

The  President  elect  had  declared  there  could  be  no  peace 
for  the  South,  until  the  JSTorth  u  could  rest  in  the  belief, 
that  it"  (slavery)  "is  in  the  course  of  ultimate  extinction." 
He  had  gravely  written,  that  "  those  who  deny  freedom  to 
others,  deserve  it  not  for  themselves,  and  under  a  just  God, 
cannot  long  retain  it  "  He  has  realized  the  truth  of  this 
sentiment  for  the  North  !  It  has  denied  freedom  to  the 
South,  and  it  has  lost  it ;  it  has  struck  a  blow  at  the  liberty 
of  the  South,  and  has  fatally  pierced  its  own  ! 

Mr.  Seward  was  made  the  Premier  of  the  new  adminis- 
tration ;  a  man,  possessed  of  more  power  and  influence  with 
his  party,  than  any  other.  He  had,  in  a  public  speech,  a 
few  years  ago,  declared  its  fixed  policy  in  these  terms  : 

"  Free  labor  has  at  last  apprehended  its  rights  and  its 
destiny,  and  is  organizing  itself  to  assume  the  government 
of  the  Republic.  It  will  henceforth  meet  you  boldly  and 
resolutely  here ;  it  will  meet  you  everywhere,  in  the  Terri- 
tories and  out  of  them,  wherever  you  may  go  to  extend 
slavery.     It  has  driven  you  back  in  California  and  in  Kan- 


21 

sas ;  it  will  invade  you  soon  in  Delaware,  Maryland,  Vir* 
ginia,  Missouri  and  Texas."  (Was  not  the  crack  of  the  rifle 
of  John  Brown,  the  mere  echo  of  the  sentiment  of  the  Sen- 
ator ?)  "  It  will  meet  you  in  Arizona,  in  Central  America, 
and  even  in  Cuba." 

"  You  may  indeed  get  a  start  under  or  near  the  tropics, 
and  seem  safe  for  a  time,  but  it  will  be  only  a  short  time. 
Even  there  you  will  found  States  only  for  free  labor  to  main- 
tain and  occupy.  The  interest  of  the  whole  race  demands 
the  ultimate  emancipation  of  all  men."  Now  mark  the 
menace : 

"  Whether  that  consummation  shall  be  allowed  to  take 
effect,  with  needful  and  wise  precautions  against  sudden 
change  and  disaster,  or  be  hurried  on  by  violence,  is  all  that 
remains  for  you  to  decide  !"  "■  It  is  for  yourselves,  and  not 
for  us,  to  decide  how  long  and  through  what  further  molli- 
fications and  disasters  the  contest  shall  be  protracted  before 
freedom  shall  enjoy  her  already  assured  triumph !" 

The  policy  of  the  Republican  party  had  been  boldly 
avowed.  The  exclusion  of  slavery  from  the  common  Terri- 
tory, and  the  refusal  to  admit  any  more  slave  States ;  Abo-' 
lition  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  in  all  forts  and  arse- 
nals ;  the  outlawry  of  slavery,  by  treating  it  as  out  of  the 
protection  of  the  Government ;  thjp  denial  of  the  surrender 
of  fugitive  slaves,  or  so  to  trammel  it,  as  to  involve  the  lib- 
erty, and  life  of  the  master  ;  the  proclamation  of  the  equal- 
ity of  the  two  races  in  the  South  ;  agitation  for  Abolition  in 
Congress,  in  the  States,  in  the  Church  ;  and  finally,  the 
throwing  of  the  moral  influence  of  the  whole  Union  against 
the  social  institutions  of  one  half  of  it  ;  the  surrounding  of 
slavery  by  a  cordon  of  free  States,  thus  shutting  it  up  within 
its  present  limits,  with  the  avowed  purpose,  so  to  endanger 
our  peace,  limit  our  prosperity,  and  press  the  growing  pop- 
ulation of  the  two  races  together,  as  to  work  out  the  '^ulti- 
mate extinction"  of  slavery,  and  the  revolution  of  Southern 
society  ! 

All  this  was  purposed  to  be  done  under  a  Constitution, 
which  recognized  and  protected  slavery — and  treated,  as 
equals,  free  and  slave  States — and  by  a  Government 
formed  and   bound   to  .  protect,   defend  and  advance  each 


22 

End  all  the  States,  in  all  their  interests  and  institutions. 

The  South  was  told  it  had  but  one  thing  to  decide  :  Shall 
the  result  he  rapid  and  violent — or  slow,  torturing,  and  de- 
basing, though  not  less  certain? 

The  States  of  the  South  have  humbly  appealed  to  God, 
and  may  boldly  appeal  to  Christendom,  to  justify  them  in. 
refusing  the  alternative  presented.  To  accept  either  horn  of 
the  dilemma,  was  to  accept  degradation  and  ruin.  What 
would  remain  of  dignity  or  virtue  in  civilization — of  liberty 
and  right  in  Government— of  order  and  progress  in  society 
— should  a  people  consent  to  so  base  a  surrender  of  its^ALL, 
to  the  violence  of  the  marauder — or  to  the  sl#w  poison  of  a 
torturing  and  wasting  assassination?  The  South  could 
never,  thenceforth,  have  been  free,  prosperous  or  happy — 
and  without  these,  its  civilization — its  claim  to  a  place,  as 
a  people  in  Cnristendom,  must  perish  forever  ! 

The  Church  of  the  South  can  make  its  appeal  to  its  bro- 
thers in  Christ,  throughout  the  world — for  its  justification 
in  sustaining  these  States  in  the  defence  of  these  great  tem- 
poral interests.  If  the  Church  has  ever,  any  where,  prayed 
and  labored  for  its  county  in  great  war  struggles,  let  such 
Church  furnish  a  parallel  to  the  interests  staked  upon  the 
cause  of  the  South.  If  the  welfare  of  the  Church  is  bound 
up  in  that  of  the  State — if  her  safety  under  the  shield  of 
civil  government,  depends  on  its  integrity  and  the  defence 
of  its  law  and  its  Constitution — if  there  can  be  no  well  or- 
dered and  prosperous  church,  where  the  State  is  torn  by 
social  disorder,  or  oppressed  by  external  tyranny — then  was 
the  Southern  Church  bound  to  pray  for,  and  defend  these 
States,  from  the  threatened  violence  of  Northern  tyranny, 
and  the  menaced  convulsion  of  Southern  society. 

Where  would  be  the  Church  interests  of  Great  Britain, 
should  a  mad  fanaticism  proclaim  to  its  laboring  classes  the 
overthrow  of  its  monarchy,  its  aristocracy — its  ecclesiastical 
polity?  Where  was  France  and  its  Church,  when  social 
revolution,  in  its  red  torrent,  rushed  through  the  streets  of 
Paris,  with  the  cry  of  no  government — and  no  God  ?  Would 


23 

the  Church,  in  these  cases,  be  justified  in  throwing  its  pow- 
er into  the  scale  of  order  and  law,  and  ancient  Church 
polity?  And  should  the  Church  of  God,  in  these  Southern 
States,  remain  passively  neutral,  when  a  crusade  is  pro- 
claimed by  Abolition,,  which  will  raise  four  millions  of 
slaves,  ignorant  and  debased,  into  brutal  insurrection 
against  their  masters — and  drench  Southern  fields  in  blood, 
or  stain  Southern   homes  with    murder,    rapine  and  rape? 

Can  the  followers  of  Christ  remain  at  ease  in  their  Zion, 
when  the  wildest  tornado  of  revolution  menaces  society — 
and  the  Communion  of  Saints — of  masters  and  servants — 
was  rent  by  the  wedge  of  cruel  hatred  and  savage  War? 
Could  the  Church,  the  guardian  of  religion,  see  its  founda- 
tions upturned,  its  loving  people  roused  to  fury  by  the 
teachings  of  an  insane  fanaticism,  and  stand  all  the  day 
idle,  iu  the  midst  of  such  a  crisis?  Could  it  deny  its 
mission  of  peace  ? 

We  appeal  to  Christians  everywhere  !  Are  we  not  justi- 
fied in  standing  by  our  country  in  the  breach,  which  Aboli- 
tion threatened  to  make  in  our  society  and  in  the  Church 
of  God? 

We  believe  no  such  issue  was  ever  presented  in  menace  to 
a  Christian  nation,  which  was  not  met  by  war. 

But  let  it  be  remembered,  we  did  not  resent  the  menace 
by  war.  We  sought  to  avoid  war.  We  prayed,  and  asked 
for  peace  ! 

The  Cotton  States  decided  it  was  no  longer  safe  to  remain 
in  the  Union.  Eight  of  them  withdrew,  by  ordinances  of 
Secession.  Upon  written  terms,  and  for  specified  purposes, 
they  had  acceded  to  that  union.  They  seceded  from  it,  when 
the  terms  were  violated,  and  the  purposes  were  defeated. 
They  did  no  act  of  violence.  They  neither  threatened,  nor 
desired  war.  They  withdrew  in  peace,  and  to  secure 
Peace  ! 

The  whole  question,  as  presented  to  them,  was,  shall  we 
act  for  our  safety  upon  the  menace  of  violence?  or,  shall 
we  await  the  development  of  the  hostile  policy  of  our  foes? 


24 

As  roost  people  have  done  in  human  history,  who  have  suc- 
ceeded in  achieving  liberty  and  independence,  they  acted 
promptly,  and  did  not  await  the  fall  of  the  blow  before 
taking  steps  for  safety. 

In  February,  1861,  these  States  adopted  a  new  Constitu- 
tion, differing  but  little  from  the  old,  and  formed  a  new 
Confederation. 

But  they  declared  no  war  against  the  United  States. 
They  made  provision,  it  is  true,  for  Public  Defence,  but  in 
their  official  documents,  deprecated  the  resort  to  war.  They, 
made  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  free  to  the  Northern 
States.  But  they  did  more — they  tendered  the  Olive  branch 
of  Peace. 

In  their  very  Constitution,  they  provided  that  'the  Gov- 
ernment hereby  instituted,  shall  take  immediate  steps  for 
the  settlement  of  all  matters  between  the  States  forming  it 
and  their  other  late  confederates  of  the  United  States,  in 
relation  to  the  public  property  and  public  debt,  at  the  time 
of  their  withdrawal  from  them — these  States  hereby  declar- 
ing it  to  be  their  wish  and  earnest  desire,  to  adjust  every 
thing  pertaining  to  the  common  property,  common  liability 
and  common  obligations  of  that  union,  upon  the  principles 
of  right,  justice,  equity  and  good  faith." 

Commissioners  were  appointed,  and  were  sent  to  Wash- 
ington, to  propose  and  to  negotiate  a  peaceful  adjustment. 
After  repeated  delays,  upon  pretexts  feigned  for  a  purpose, 
all  overtures  for  peaceful  separation,  were  rejected,  and  the 
war  policy  was  proclaimed. 

Meantime,  the  United  States  continued  to  hold  some  of 
the  forts  in  the  Seceded  States.  These  places  ceded  by  the 
States  for  the  security  of  their  liberties,  were  bristling  with 
guns,  loaded  and  pointed  at  their  cities  and  homes — as  the 
securities  of  Despotism,  for  its  continued  oppression  ! 

The  President  of  the  United  States  declared,  officially, 
his  purpose  to  hold,  permanently,  these  forts,  and  to  recap- 
ture, by  force,  those  taken  by  the  Confederate  States,  with- 
in their  borders.     Such  a  policy  could  not  be  permitted — 


unless  these  States  were  prepared  to  surrender  their  posi- 
tion of  independence.  Each  fort  was  a  key  to  our  commerce 
— and  to  our  liberty.  In  the  hands  of  a  power,  which  de- 
nied our  independence,  these  keys  would  forever  debar  us 
from  attaining  or  enjoying  it?  The  holding  of  a  fort  with- 
in our  borders,  was  war  upon  us— and  could  not  be  acqui- 
esced in.  The  Confederate  Government  so  declared  to  the 
United  States.  Submi-ssion  to  this  policy  would  have  made 
secession  an  empty  formality. 

But  the  United  States,  in  possession  of  Fort  Sumter, 
saught  to  re-in force  and  supply  it.  This  effort,  and  the 
rejection  of  the  overtures  of  peace,  made  its  bombardment 
a  necessity.     It  surrendered  .on  the  13th  of  April,  1861. 

Two  days  after  its  surrender,  the  President  issued  his  pro- 
clamation of  war — his  call  for  75,000  troops— his  denoftnee- 
ment  of  insurgency  against  8  large  States — and  his  purpose 
to  suppress  secession,  by  force  of  arms.  This  had  been  a 
covert  policy  until  Sumter  fell.  That  event  compelled  its 
disclosure.  * 

These  States  sought  only  to  be  free  and  independent. 
They  preferred  no  claim  against  the  United  States.,  They 
said,  we  cannot  live  under  your  Government  in  safety — seek 
your  own  welfare  in  peace — let  us  seek  ours  without  war — - 
we  will  settle  all  questions  amicably — since  we  cannot  live 
together  without  conflict  andcontention,  let  us  separate  in 
peace  : — "  Let  there  be  no  strife,  I  pray  thee,  between  me 
and  thee  ;  for  we  be  brethren.  Is  not  the  whole  land  before 
thee — separate  thyself,  I  pray  thee,  from  me — if  thou  wilt 
take  the  left  hand,  then  I  will  go  to  the  right,  or,  if  thou 
depart  to  the  right  hand,  then  I  will  go  to  the  left.'" 

Could  anything  be  more  reasonable  aud  just?  Could  the 
South  propose  terms  more  Christian  in  their  character? 

But  Pharoah  was  resolved  not  to  let  the  people  go  !  Eight 
sovereign  States,  were  denounced  as  insurgents,  and  were 
told  to  return  to  their  homes  -or  war  was  declared.  The 
riot  act  was  read   to  eight  commonwealths  ;  and  a  bill  of 

indictment  was  found  against  12,000,000  of  people  ! 

t 


26 

The  will  of  the  free  people  of  8  free  States  was  to  be  con- 
strained by  a  free  (?)  Government,  by  force  of  arms  !  In 
the  name  of  liberty — liberty  to  choose  their  own  Govern- 
ment was  denied,  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet ! 
'  Virginia  and  the  Southern  States  remaining  in  the  Union, 
were  summoned  to  arms,  by  President  Lincoln,  to  suppress 
the  Southern  Rebellion.  They  were,  thus,  compelled  to 
make  war.  They  could  not  choose  "peace --end  avoid  war. 
They  could  only  choose  on  which  side  to  array  themselves 
in  the  war,  forced  upon  them.     Could  they  hesitate? 

They  chose,  upon  the  issue  of  war,  to  take  the  side  of  the 
oppressed,  against  the  arms  of  the  oppressor. 

We  appeal  to  Christendom— to  Christians  everywhere — 
could  the  South  submit  to  the  rule  of  the  North,  whose 
menace  of  wrong  was  thus  backed  by  violence  ?  Could  the 
Christian  Church  in  the  South  fail  to  pray  for  the  defence  of 
rights  threatened  by  a  usurping  Government,  or  refuse  to 
unite  in  resistance  to  that  usurpation  sustained  by  the  force 
of  arras  ? 

The  war  has  been  waged  without  mercy — barbarously, 
cruelly  and  wickedly.  If  we  were  regarded  by  our  enemy, 
as  an  independent  nation,  the  conduct  of  the  war  is  contra- 
ry to  all  the  rules  of  civilized  warfare,  and  a  violation  of  the 
law  of  nations.  No  war  in  modern  times,  among  Chris- 
tian nations,  has  been  marked  by  such  ferocity — such 
disregard  of  private  rights  of  persons  and  property — such 
assaults  upon  the  liberty  and  conscience  of  private  citizens — 
such  atrocities  towards  non-combatants,  men,  women  and 
children — and  such  wicked  violations  of  all  sanctions  of  our 
Holy  religion.  In  the  estimate  of  international  law,  our 
enemy  must  stand  for  condemnation  in  the  Pillory  of 
Nations  ! 

We  may  waive  all  questions  of  minor  consequence — and 
the  mention  of  all  acts  of  subordinate  officers,  which  have 
made  a'  grievous  cry  ascend  to  heaven  for  justice.  We  may 
fail  to  recount  the  brutal  orders  of  a  Pope,  a  Hunter,  and  a 
Butler.     Humanity  through  all  time,  will   remember  such 


27 

men,  only  to  detest  find  execrate  them.     Theirs  will  be  an 
immortality  in  infamy  ! 

But  we  choose  to  rest  our  charges  upon  the  official  action 
of  the  Government. 

The  Federal  Government  refuses  to  recognize  our  inde- 
pendence, and  still  claims  these  States  as  members  of  the 
Federal  Union.  And  yet,  at  every  step  of  this  contest,  that 
Government,  in  its  own  view,  of  the  relations  of  the  parties 
to  it,  tramples  under  foot  the  Constitution,  its  officers  are 
sworn  to  support,  and  which  it  falsely  professes  a  purpose 
to  restore. 

It  has  made  war  upon  these  sovereign  States,  whose  dele- 
gated authority  it  claims  to  exercise — and' without  which  it 
would  never  have  existed.  It  has  made  war  upon  them, 
without  justice  or  mercy,  as  if  these  people  were  alienf  and 
savages.  It  has  blockaded  our  ports,  which  the  Constitu- 
tion guaranteed  should  be  open  and  free.  It  has  declared 
the  universal  confiscation  of  all  property  held  by  those  it 
terms,  Rebels,  in  the  teeth  of  the  Constitution,  and  without 
trial  or  conviction  of  the  owners  for  any  crime.  It  has  thus, 
by  a  general  law  of  Attainder,  condemned  a  whole  people, 
when  the  Constitution  declares,  no  Bill  of  Attainder  shall  be 
passed.  It  has  sanctioned  the  act  of  its  President  in  his 
unconstitutional  annulment  of  the  habeas  corpus.  It  has 
established  a  military  Star  Chamber,  for  the  trial  of  its  citi- 
zens, without  authority  of  law,  against  the  express  mandate 
of  the  Constitution,  without  indictment,  without  a  trial  by 
jury,  and  for  crimes  not  defined  by  law/ but  created  by  mil- 
itaiy  order  !  It  has  muzzled  the  press,  abridged  the  free- 
dom of  speech,  and  has  prohibited  the  free  exercise  of  reli- 
gion, even  in  the  Northern  States.  It  has  emancipated 
millions  of  slaves  by  a  dash  of  the  pen  of  its  President,  thus 
by  imperial  edict  devoting  to  destruction  $3,000,000,000 
worth  of  property,  without  compensation  and  for  no  public 
use  !  It  has  stirred  up  these  slaves  to  insurrection  and  wrfr 
upon  their  masters,  and  enlisted  them  in  its  armies.  It  has 
given  freedom  to  the  slave,  and  put  chains  upon  his  master, 


28       ' 

without  warrant  of  law,  and  beyond  the  hope  of  relief.  It 
has  reduced  sovereign  States  to  mere  provinces,  and  super- 
seded their  Governments  by  its  own  military  satraps.  It 
has  declared  its  ferocious  policy  to  subjugate  or  exterminate, 
to  ruin  or  destroy.  It  has  invaded,  by  force,  the  homes  of 
unarmed  citizens  and  burned  or  plundered.them.  It  has 
driven  helpless  women  and  children  from  their  blazing- 
homes,  without  shelter  to  shield  them,  or  food  to  support 
them.  It  has  destroyed  the  implements  of  husbandry,  thus 
seeming  to  purpose,  what  is  openly  avowed  by  its  agents, 
the  starvation  of  our  people.  It  has  desecrated  our  houses 
of  worship  ;  has  stifled  the  voice  of  prayer  by  violence  ;  and 
his  dragged  the  ministers  of  religion  from  the  sacred  Church 
for  the  utterance  of  supplication  to  God  for  their  bleeding 
counwy.  It  has  committed  the  worst  crime  against  the  hu- 
man soul,  by  requiring  men  to  take  its  oath  of  allegiance, 
as  a  condition  for  the  privilege  of  purchasing  needful  sup- 
plies for  their  families,  thus  compelling  to  perjury,  or  con- 
demning to  starvation. 

It  has  so  conducted  this  war  against  us,  as  (if  we  were  still 
members  of  the  Federal  Union,)  would  violate  every  prin- 
ciple of  the  Conseitution  under  which  it  was  created.  It 
has  defeated  every  object  for  which  it  was  formed.  It  has 
done  gross  injustice,  though  formed  "  to  establish  justice." 
It  has  stirred  up  servile  insurrection,  though  formed  "  to 
insure  domestic  tranquility."  It  has  made  fierce  war  upon 
us,  though  formed  "to  provide  for  our  defence."  It  has 
spread  ruin  and  desolation  in  its  march,  though  formed  "  to 
promote  our  welfare."  It  has  destroyed  liberty  of  thought, 
of  speech,  of  action  ;  liberty  of  the  press — liberty  of 
religion — though  formed  u  to  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty 
to  us  and  our  posterity  !" 

It  has  destroyed  our  lives— confiscated  our  property— in- 
vaded our  homes — engendered  a  war  of  races  in  our  midst. 
l£  has,  when  defeated  by  our  armed  men  in  the  field,  meanly 
turned  its  weapons  against  non-combatants — our  women 
and  our  little  ones.     It  has  traitorouslv  intervened  between 


29 

§ 
the  conscience  and  God,  and   made   religion    a  mockery  ; 

and  last,  and  perhaps  worst,  it  has  dared  to  tempt  our  peo- 
ple to  perjury,  by  the  alternative  of  starvation  to  their  wives 
and  children  ! 

These  wrongs  against  us — these  crimes  against  God  and 
the  human  race,  are  enough  to  justify  these  States  and  the 
Church,  in  combined  resistance  to  such  an  enemy — our 
resistance  now,  is  a  resistance  against  the  destruction  of  our 
All. 

But  let  it  be  remarked,  that  these  acts  arc,  but  the  execu- 
tion of  the  previous  measure.  Though  done  subsequent  to 
the  war,  they  demonstrate  the  existence  of  a  purpose  and 
intent  on  the  part  of  our  enemy,  to  avoid  which,  some  of 
these  States  sagaciously  seceded  prior  to  its  commencement. 
None  can  doubt,  that  the  atrocious  vengeance  of  the  North, 
is  but  the  rapid  manifestation  of  covert  purposes  as  certain 
of  consummation  without  secession,  but  which  that  event 
ripened  into  the  overt  act  of  wrong  ami  outrage.  The  war 
has,  in  the  language  of  Mr.  Seward,  already  quoted,  hur- 
ried on  the  consummation  of  their  policy  by  violence — which 
by  slower,  but  equally  sure  means  would  have  followed,  had 
the  South  continued  as  submissive  vassals  to  their  unbridled 
and  absolute  power  ! 

We  insist,  then,  that  the  menacing  attitude  of  the  North, 
was  not  empty  bravado — but  was  the  manifestation  of  a  real 
purpose  to  destroy  the  South — and  the  vengeance,  which 
secession  has  roused,  has  only  demonstrated  that  fact  the 
more  clearly,  by  more  rapidly  maturing  the  covert  and  dead- 
ly intention.  Hatred  of  the  South  has  been  felt  for  years — 
and  only  waited  a  fit  occasion,  to  ripen  into  the  deadly 
fruits  of  a  war  of  desolation,  plunder  and  ruin. 

These  facts  demonstrate  further,  that  civil  liberty  was 
imperilled  by  the  continuance  of  the  Union.  We  have 
escaped  great  danger.  The  people,  who  have,  in  two  years, 
so  crushed  out  every  spark  of  constitutional  freedom  for 
themselves,  were  never  sale  guardians  of  our  liberties,  but 
soouer  or  later,  must  have  destroyed    them.     With  the  loss 


30 

of  civil  liberty,  religious  liberty  mast  have  perished:  and 
hence,  the  Church  was  deeply  involved  in  the  issue,  as  has 
been  already  shown. 

The  facts  which  we  have  thus  presented,  in  review,  show 
that  our  people  have  only  sought  to  preserve  their  liberty, 
their  type  of  civilization,  and  their  religion  ;  that  in  doing 
so,  the  change  of  our  Government  was  necessary  :  that  we 
seceded  to  effect  this  change— that  we  did  so  with  the  ten- 
der of  the  Olive  branch  of  peace,  and  the  proposal  of  nego- 
tiation to  settle  all  differences  ;  that  we  were  met  with  the 
declaratian  of  a  war  of  subjugation — a  war  for  the  ruin  of 
our  property,  our  society  and  political  institutions  ;  that  it 
has  been  waged  fiercely  and  wickedly — and  that,  as  a  Chris- 
tian people,  we  stand  in  the  thresholds  of  our  homes,  to 
repel  violence,  to  defend  our  God-granted  rights — to  save  our 
free  institutions — our  civilization  and  our  religion. 

One  further  view  may  be  presented. 

We  feel,  that  where  two  types  of  civilized  life,  come  into 
irreconcilable  and  "irrepressible  conflict,"  under  the  same 
form  and  system  of  Government,  it  is  a"n  indication  of  Pro- 
vidence, that  separation  between  them,  is,  according  to  the 
purpose  of  God.  Two  such  types,  require  two  nationalities 
fbv  their  appropriate  development.  The  difference  between 
the  North  and  the  South,  representatives  of  two  distinct 
civilizations,  grew  from  small  beginnings,  until  the  conflict 
was  angry  and  fatal  to  the  interests  of  both  in  continued 
Union.  Fortunately,  the  Confederate  form  of  our  Govern- 
ment made  secession  an  easy  and  proper  remedy.  The  fin- 
ger of  God  pointed  it  out— and  all  subsequent  events  have 
only  demonstrated  the  total  incompatibility  of  the  Union  of 
the  two  sections. 

It  is  in  this  way,  that  the  Divine  hand  has  divided  conti- 
nents, and  established  nations.  The  consolidation  of  a  con- 
tinent, under  one  Governmental  system,  has  continued,  only 
so  long,  as  some  providence  did  not  open  the  way  for  sepa- 
ration into  distinct  nationalities.  When  that  has  been 
-accomplished,  the  world  has  perceived,  how  such  an  event 


31 

is  fraught  with  the  blessings  of  a  larger  progress — a  better 
assured  liberty — and  a  more  varied  and  comprehensive 
civilization. 

Europe  was  consolidated  under  Roman  dominion.  It  was 
rent  into  separate  nations  by  the  seeming  overthrow"  of  the 
best  hopes  of  man.  Centralization  has  since  been  often 
attempted  ,  but  the  Hand  which  scattered  the  world  at 
Babel,  has  as  often  frustrated  the  attempt — and  Europe,  iir 
in  its  decentralization,  finds  to-day,  a  more  varied,  broad 
and  comprehensive  development  of  all  the  elements  which 
constitute  highly  civilized  life,  than  were  it  but  one  great 
nation,  under  a  C;esar,  a  Charlemagne,  or  a  Napoleon  ! 

Is  it  not  the  finger  of  God,  which  has  dispersed  the  Babel 
builders  of  this  wide-reaching  Union,  and  has  ordained  a 
better  destiny  in  separation,  for  the  two  destinctive  types  of 
American  civilization  ? 

And  why  should  it  have  been  followed  by  violence  ?  The 
South  sought  it  in  peace.     The  North  opposes  it  by  war  ! 

Do  not  the  events  antecedent  to  the  war,  justify  secession  ? 
Do  not  succeeding  events  confirm  the  wisdom  and  necessity 
of  that  action  ?  Does  not  the  history  we  have  traced,  show 
that  we  should  never  look  back  to  that  Union,  but  in  giati- 
tude  to  God,  that  we  were  rescued  from  the  evils,  that  must 
have  followed  its  continuance,  and  that  now,  rather  than 
return  to  that  Egypt  of  our  bondage,  we  should  die  in  the 
wilderness  of  revolution  ?  And  is  not  the  Christian  Church 
justified  in  its  attitude  of  prayer  for  the  success  of  our  cause, 
and  in  its  heroic  and  patriotic  maintenance  of  our  civil  and 
religious  liberties  ? 

Christianity  has  furnished  during  this  war  the  noblest 
types  of  heroic  patriotism,  which  history  records.  The  seal 
of  their  blood  attests  their  devotion  to  the  rights  and  the 
liberty  of  their  country. 

Death  has  just  closed  the  career  of  a  man,  whose  name 
will  live,  while  military  genius  excites  admiration,  or  Chris- 
tian virtue  has  a  votary. 

Amid  the  clouds  which  hung  about  the  dawn  of  the  war, 


the  sun  of  Jackson  arose  from  obscurity.  It  lias  gone  down 
at  noon,  amidst  the  splendors  of  achievements,  which  have 
had  but  few  parallels  in  the  past. 

The  beginning  of  our  struggle,  found  him  a  modest  and 
unobtritsive  professor  of  Natural  Philosophy,  in  the  Vir- 
ginia Military  Institute  ;  a  simple  hearted,  sincere  and  de-  ■, 
vout  Christian,  the  teacher  of  a  Bible  class,  the  superinten- 
dent of  a  Sunday  school,  for  negro  slaves.  His  was  a  nature 
strong,  resolute  and  firm,  because  guided  only  by  the  Divine 
will :  a  mind  in  perfect  peace,  because  stayed  on  God.  Faith 
in  Him  was  the  motive  power  of  every  action — a  sense  of 
His  omnipresence  the  air  he  breathed — submission  to  His 
providence,  the  permanent  condition  of  his  soul.  In  politics 
he  had  no  aspirations.  He  clung  to  the  late  Union,  with 
the  hope  of  justice  to  lfis  country,  until  the  proclamation 
of  April  15,  1361. 

When  that  event  occurred,  the  sword  he  had  laid  aside 
from  aversion  to  strife,  and  love  of  peace,  he  resumed,  from  the 
conscientious  conviction,  that  civil  and  religious  liberty  were 
staked  upon  the  issue  of  the  war.  Firm  and  decided,  but 
never  violent  or  vengeful,  he  fought  as  a  Christian  should, 
for  right  and  not  for  blood.  Of  undaunted  courage, 
with  the  real  intuition  of  military  genius,  he,  by  fervent 
prayer,  committed  our  cause  into  the  hands  of  God  before, 
and  during  battle,  and  when  it  closed  in  victory,  he  ascribed 
all  the  glory  and  honor  to, the  Lord  of  Hosts  !  This  was  no 
affectation.     It  was  sincere  and  true  reverence  of  soul. 

He  had  no  ambition  for  military  glory.  He  wished  the 
war  to  end.  He  desired  to  sheath  his  dripping  sword  in  the 
scabbard  of  peace.  He  pined  for  the  haunts  of  his  moun- 
tain home — for  the  pleasant  affections  of  family  and  friends 
— for  the  closet  of  sweet  prayer — for  the  quiet  sanctuary  of 
God! 

Brought  from  obscurity  by  a  sense  of  .duty,  he  struck 
every  blow  for  his  country,  as  if  it  were  impelled  by  God's 
directing  hand  ;  and  fell  a  martyr  to  her  liberty,  in  the 
arms  of  a  victory,  whose  glory  is  immortal.     In  the  exodus 


33 

of  our  people,  from  the  oppression  of  the  old  Union,  this 
extraordinary  man,  meek  in  submission  to  his  God;  holy  in 
Christian  virtue  ;  calmly  brave,  and  devoutly  prayerful,  in 
the  dreadful  shock  of  battle  ;  a  Captain  of  undoubted  genius  ; 
a  victor  upon  an  hundred  fields  ;  this  Moses  of  our  host, 
from  Pisgah's  top,  looking  to  and  hoping  for  the  indepen- 
dence of  his  nation,  but  doomed,  without  reaching  and  en- 
joying it,  to  die  in  "The  Wilderness;"  resigned  his 
mighty  soul  to  heaven  ;  met  its  solemn  decree,  with  the 
trustful  words,  "It  is  all  right;"  and  left  the  glorious 
heritage  of  his  name  to  the  Christian  Church  and  to  his 
weeping  country  ! 

Christianity  may  well  cherish  the  memory  of  this  holy 
hero,  as  the  noblest  example  of  pious  patriotism  ;  and  ap- 
peals to  his  name,  as  an  imperishable  proof,  that  the  devout 
conscience  of  the  South',  in  the  fear  and  love  of  God,  is  con- 
strained to  yield  up  life,  a  bleeding  sacrifice  upon  the  altar 
of  its  countiy  independence  !  For,  can  any  man  believe  the 
heroism  of  Jackson  was  iuspired  by  any  other  motive,  than 
the  liberty  of  his  country,  the  houor  of  God,  and  the  ^lory 
oi  his  kingdom  ? 

In  concluding  this  address,  it  may  be  proper  to  suggest  to 
our  Christian  brethren  throughout  the  world,  the  aid  they 
can  render  us. 

We  ask  no  material  aid.  We  need  their  prayers — their 
Christian  sympathy.  We  have  presented  our  justification 
before  God  and  men.  We  have  received  reproach  and  defa- 
mation, from  ignorance  and  malignity.  Our  conscience  is 
void  of  offence  in  this  war.  We  stand  in  our  lot,  to  defend 
our  right. 

We  have  been  reviled  abroad  for  slavery.  If  it  were  a 
curse,  toe  are  the  sufferers,  though  we  did  not  bring  it  on 
ourselves.  If  it  were  an  evil,  we  might  claim  pity,  and 
surely  should  receive  no  blame.  We  deny  it  is  either  an  evil 
or  a  curse,  as  those  terms  are  intended,  when  used  respect- 
ing slaves.  But  whether  so  or  not,  we  found  it  here,  and 
must  deal  with  it,  as  we  found  it. 


34 

One  tiling  we  know.  We  understand  our  own  business,, 
greatly  better  than  those  who  are  3.000  miles  away.  We 
dictate  to  no  Christian  people,  nor  provoke  their  ears  with 
faults  we  think  we  see  in  either  their  social  or  political  sys- 
tems. Let  each  be  less  ready  to  pluck  the  mote  from  the 
eve  of  the  other  and  more  intent  upon  the  beam  in  his  own. 
Let  each  study  to  fulfil  its  mission,  according  to  the  dictates 
of  an  enlightened  Christian  conscience.  Wc  are  striving  to 
do  our  duty.  We  are  a  superior  race,  with  an  inferior  race 
to  deal  with.  We  are  its  guardians,  and  it  is  our  pupil,  and 
all  this  under  God's  good  providence.  As  a  Christian  peo-pl 
we  have  a  work  of  evangelization  to  do.  We  have  \ 
our  doors.  The  light  of  the  gospel  shines  brightly  in  the 
cabin  of  the  slave — but  is  extinguished  in  the  hovel  of  the 
Hottentot.  We  repeat,  God  put  the  negro  here,  and  placed 
us  here  in  authority  over  him — to  regulate  him — to  make 
him  useful,  instead  of  being  unthrifty — industrious  and  not 
idle — Christian  and  not  savage.  This  work  we  mean  to  do, 
despite  the  efforts  of  our  foes  in  arms,  and  the  revilings  of 
ignorant  fanaticism  throughout  the  world. 

All  we  ask  is,  that  Christian  charity  may  judge  us  fairly, 
and  give  us  credit  for  doing  our  duty,  according  to  Christian 
conscience,  in  protecting  our  social  institutions,  as  a  God- 
given  heritage,  against  the  malignant  assaults  of  our  ene- 
mies. Beneath  the  frown  of  the  world's  prejudice  ;  beneath 
the  cloud  of  .this  cruel  war,  we  feel  the  smile  of  God's  face, 
and  the  pleasant  shadow  of  His  Almighty  wings  !  In  His 
arm,  we  trust — in  His  might,  we  have  triumphed  ;  His  pil- 
lar of  fire  and  of  cloud  is  our  guide  ;  and  we  bless  Him, 
that  we  can  still  cherish  the  confiding  hope,  that  in  His  own 
time  and  way,  He  will,  through  this  sea,  red  with  the  blood 
of  our  bravest  and  our  best,  mark  a  pathway  for  His  people 
to  the  Canaan  of  Peace,  liberty  and  independence  ! 

Christian  brothers  throughout  Christendom  1  pray  for  us  ! 
for  we  trust  we  have  a  good  conscience,  in  all  things  willing 
to  live  honestly.  Pray  for  us  !  that  we  being  delivered  from 
our  enemies,  and  the  hands  of  all  that  hate   us,  may  serve 


85 

our  God  without  fear,  in  holiness  and   righteousness  before 
Plim,  all  the  days  of  our  life. 

Finally :  Let  us  pray  for  each  other  !  that  the  God  of 
Peace,  that  brought  again  from  the  dead  our  Lord  Jesus, 
that  great  Shepherd  of  the  sheep,  through  the  blood  of  the 
everlasting  covenant  may  make  His  Catholic  Church  perfect 
in  every  good  work  to  do  His  will,  working  in  it,  that,  which 
is  well  pleasing  in  His  sight,  through  Jesus  Christ:  To 
whom  he  glory,  for  ever,  and  ever  !     Amen. 


